MP: Cheetah count in Kuno free range rises to 12 with 2 new additions

Two more cheetahs have been released into the wild at the Kuno National Park, a senior forest official said on Tuesday (July 11).

With these additions, the total number of cheetahs in the free range of the national park in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district has gone up to 12.

Eight Namibian cheetahs, comprising five females and three males, were brought to Kuno and released into special enclosures by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17 last year as part of an ambitious programme to reintroduce the species in India.

Twelve more cheetahs — seven males and five females — were brought to Kuno from South Africa on February 18 this year.

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On Monday, two male cheetahs, Prabhash and Pavak, were released into the wild at the national park, Sheopur’s Divisional Forest Officer PK Verma said. Both of them were brought to India from South Africa, the official said.

Now, the number of cheetahs in free range has gone up to 12, while five felines and a cub are in the enclosures, he said. Six cheetahs, including three cubs born to cheetah Jwala, have died at Kuno since March.

Cheetah Jwala gave birth to four cubs in March this year at the Kuno National Park. The last cheetah died in India in Koriya district in present-day Chhattisgarh in 1947, and the species was declared extinct from the country in 1952.

(With agency inputs)